Lack Of Basic Infrastructure Is Hampering The Pace Of Digital Growth

As joint Secretary of Ministry of tribal affairs, what are some of the biggest challenges that you are facing?

- Sarabjeet Kaur

Tribal communities are traditionally living in remote and hilly areas where connectivity is poor and proper supply of power is an issue faced very commonly. Though many remote areas have been electrified but electricity is not yet stable. Similarly mobile tower connectivity, especially in Naxal districts is very poor. So, lack of basic infrastructure is really hampering the pace of growth which could be otherwise attained easily. It has an impact on almost every scale. The roads are not good, doctors and teachers do not go to various Naxal prone areas and mobile towers do not exist there.

Unfortunately, on the infrastructure side, tribals falls in the derelict zone of geography due to various reasons. There are very sparsely populated areas so it is not viable for private sectors also to move there. All the big shot companies or even the small ones go where the business is, where it is viable. So, we have to deal with these remote areas in slightly different fashion. The government has to become more proactive in these areas. Cities can be relied on the private sectors but remote areas require more government interaction due to all these infrastructure issues.

The gap between literacy and digital literacy level is another reason of concern. Obviously, the gap between people living in those areas versus people not living in those areas is quite high. Thus, it creates a technology gap. Even if they get mobile towers and connectivity or a CSC, they will not be tech savvy or digitally literate to be able to use the services very effectively. These are the issues we are dealing with.